To say their time together so far had been a roller coaster would be an understatement.
She heard him end the call as his thumb traced over her mouth. Slowly he lowered the phone and his head began to descend.
‘Were you looking for me?’ he murmured.
‘Yes. Your brother and Brianna are here.’
‘I know. Sakis called me ten minutes ago.’ His head moved closer. ‘Theo is also on his way from the airport. He’ll be here in less than ten minutes. He wants to row straight away so I’ve had the equipment sent down to the water.’
His lips flitted over hers and she tried to pull back. ‘Ari...don’t.’
He stiffened slightly. ‘I’ve been a bear towards you all week. Let me apologise,’ he coaxed in that deep, hypnotic voice.
Her breath gushed out of her as he sealed her lips with his. Their mingled groan echoed around the room, then faded away to be replaced with harsh breathing. They strained towards each other until she could feel the solid imprint of his body and the even more rigid outline of his arousal against her belly.
The need that tore through her made her spear her hands through his hair. With a deep groan he picked her up and carried her to the sofa without breaking their kiss.
He was kissing his way down her neck when she finally came to her senses.
‘No. Stop!’
He raised his head slowly, his eyes sizzling pools of need and frustration. ‘Why the hell should I?’ he growled.
‘We can’t...you can’t use sex to apologise. Saying you’re sorry is enough.’
A mirthless smile tilted one corner of his mouth. ‘You really are naïve, aren’t you?’
She blushed fiercely. ‘Perhaps, but I also know that sex can confuse issues. You’ve been grumpy for days because you weren’t getting your way. Sex will not achieve what you want.’
His eyes gleamed as he reared back. ‘But it will make me feel a whole lot better. And you can deny it all you want but it will make you feel better too.’
She couldn’t deny it but neither was she going to admit it. She sat up and straightened her clothes. The black sundress wasn’t exactly appropriate for the tropics but it seemed black was all she’d packed. ‘Anyway, we can’t. We have guests who require our attention. But don’t think I haven’t noticed that every time I try to get you to talk to me like we agreed, you find something else for me to do!’
He stiffened and jerked to his feet. ‘You’re asking a man who has kept his innermost thoughts hidden most of his life to bare his soul, glikia mou. It’s not as simple as hitting play on a machine,’ he said, his voice charged with the echo of painful memory.
Her heart twisted for him, but she pressed on. Deep inside, she’d begun to hope that this would be the way to reach him, the way they could both move forward and begin the tentative steps to building a solid platform for their child. ‘I know that. Of course I know that. But, as difficult as it is, we have to give it a shot, Ari.’
Slowly, he inhaled. Then he nodded and held out his hand to her. ‘We will. Before we leave here. Now, you can come and watch me row my sexual frustration away. That will be your entertainment for the afternoon.’
She let herself be pulled up and felt some of her trepidation melt away. Immediately, thoughts that had hovered on the edge of her mind crowded in. Thoughts that involved whether she and Ari could make a marriage work despite all their baggage. That he seemed to believe it was possible had slowly eroded her own scepticism as the week had crept on.
The way Ari had taken care of her since her pregnancy came to light, she didn’t doubt now that he would provide a parent’s utter devotion and stability. And perhaps, over time, that devotion would spill onto her.
Her heart lurched painfully.
Morgan had shaken the foundation of her beliefs. But she’d discovered in the last few weeks that he hadn’t totally annihilated her self-confidence. It was that renewed self-confidence that made her want even better for herself and her child.
At least, with Ari, she knew the lay of the land going in. The events of his past might mean he never cared deeply for her. So the only thing that she needed to be sure of was whether she could live without the love she’d been so desperate for the first time round.
Before we leave here...
She pushed away the lingering trepidation and concentrated on getting in the electric buggy that would take them down to the water, although it was hard not to keep glancing at Ari’s bare thighs as he drove.